Sports

Charlie Wedemeyer all-star game: North defeats South 17-6

SAN JOSE -- Michael Lauck is used to throwing touchdown passes, which probably explains why the St. Francis standout was able to strike so quickly in the 39th Charlie Wedemeyer all-star game Wednesday night.

On the second play of the North's first series at San Jose City College, Lauck lofted a beautiful 40-yard completion to Wilcox's Roland Luke for a score.

The North would go on to defeat the South 17-6 in the game featuring graduated seniors from Santa Clara County high schools and named in honor of the former Los Gatos High coach who died in 2010 after a lengthy battle with ALS.

"We've been running that play all 10 practices," said Lauck, who will play football in the fall at the University of La Verne. "We wanted to get that touchdown right away and get the game off going strong, get ahead early."

Lauck, who threw for 2,459 yards and 26 touchdowns while leading St. Francis to a Central Coast Section Division II championship last fall, helped the North stretch its lead to 10-0 before the end of the opening quarter.

He completed a 14-yard pass to Los Gatos' Kyle Kevorkian on the North's first play of its second series and scrambled for 29 yards to the South 23 on a third-and-11 play.

When the drive stalled, Leigh's Michael Leitchman kicked a 26-yard field goal to make it 10-0.

The North kept moving the chains after Lauck took a seat on the bench in the second quarter, largely because it had another accomplished quarterback on the roster.

Harker's Spenser Quash didn't win as many games as Lauck did last season but had similar productivity, throwing for 2,441 yards and 23 touchdowns.

The similarities continued Wednesday.

The 5-foot-8, 160-pound Quash gave his team a commanding 17-0 lead late in the first half with a 4-yard pass to Palo Alto's De'Antay Williams on third-and-goal.

The elusive Quash rolled right on the play before delivering a strike to Williams, who had 472 receiving yards and seven touchdown catches for Palo Alto last season.

"It was a surreal experience," Quash said. "I have never really been around so many talented guys before. At first I was nervous. I didn't really feel I belonged. But as I went through practice, they all made me feel comfortable."

The North's Vita Vea, the Mercury News' defensive player of the year from Milpitas, suffered a right leg injury while plowing for a first down on third-and-2 from the South 15 in the first quarter.

Vea, no stranger to running the ball in short-yardage situations, tried to return to the sideline before going down in obvious pain. He was helped off the field after being treated and did not return. He left the field after the game on crutches.

"I hurts and I am able to walk on it," Vea said. "But the trainer told me to not put pressure on it."

The South scored in the final minute when Santa Teresa's Austin Richelle threw a sideline pass to Pioneer's Dominic Barnes, who turned it into a 7-yard touchdown play.

"Him being my former teammate from Pop Warner, it means the world to me," Richelle, who plans to walk on at Arizona State, said of seeing Barnes prevent the shutout.

Lucy Wedemeyer, Charlie Wedemeyer's widow, stood at midfield with her grandchildren during pregame introductions and greeted players as their names were announced.